The Spaces Between Us
by MLMB
Summary: At the start of her final year at Hogwarts, Rose Weasley punishes and dumps her cheating boyfriend and the girl she catches him with. Due to unfortunate consequences, Rose finds a companion in her long-time enemy Scorpius Malfoy. As they move towards their life beyond the grounds of Hogwarts they find the spaces between them beginning to close.
1. Son of a Banshee

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its characters, though I wish I did XD and I don't own any of the Wizard Swears I use in this story, those belong to the creators of Potter Puppet Pals who are frankly geniuses.

Chapter 1 – Son of a banshee

"Well this is awkward" Rose Weasley did not expect those to be the first words to leave her mouth when, on her rounds as head girl she used her well honed hearing to track down the source of obvious sounds of canoodling to an innocent looking broom cupboard on the 4th floor, and, upon opening the cupboard found the noise to be that of her boyfriend Thaddeus Edgecombe with a Hufflepuff fifth year who Rose only knew by sight.

The pair in the cupboard stared at Rose, frozen in shock, which really wasn't a good thing for them considering that Thad had his hand very obviously up the Hufflepuff girl's shirt. This lasted for a mindnumbingly long time until Rose let out a tired sigh.

"Rose, love, this isn't what it looks like" Her boyfriend started.

The overly cliché phrase made something inside her snap. Rose burst out laughing. She was in fits of hysterics and had to hold on to the cupboard door to stop herself from falling on the floor. "You have got to be fucking stupid if you think I'd believe that, which is worrying considering you're in Ravenclaw" She managed to gasp out when she could breathe.

"Rose..." Thaddeus started but Rose cut him off.

"Nope! Merlin's pants! You can't get out of this, even though I know you've never done it to _me_ before I'm not stupid enough to believe you won't ever again, we're very much over and since it's after hours and assignations of this kind are prohibited I'm going to be taking 25 points from each of your houses" She told them.

It was at this point the Hufflepuff girl chose to speak, "Only 25?" she sighed relieved.

"Yeah, well I'd feel bad if I took too many considering what's about to happen"

Thaddeus Edgecombe and the Hufflepuff girl, who still hadn't found the right moment to disentangle themselves from one another, looked at Rose confused.

The next morning rumours of a very loud bang from the 4th floor during the night ran amok in the school and students who walked past the broom cupboard all swore that there was the lingering smell of freshly washed lettuce and well worn socks.

It wasn't until after she'd sent her ex-boyfriend and the Hufflepuff packing back to their dorms and she was finally alone, that it all really hit her. She and Thad were over. The worst part was that she really did love him. Well she did up until half and hour ago when he had broken her heart with some random gnargle from Hufflepuff. She'd seen that girl trying to flirt with Thad on several occasions, but she'd thought nothing of it. After all, she and Thad had been together for a little over 2 years, they'd even started planning their life together after Hogwarts, looking for cheap houses or flats they could rent and perfecting their CV's so they could get the jobs they wanted in the Ministry of Magic. He would be in the department of International Magical Co-operation and she would be in the Department of Mysteries. They'd even talked about getting married. Now that future was gone forever. Rose felt like she was staring at an oblivion. Ducking into a niche behind a statue she finally allowed the tears that had been threatening to spill over, rain down in full fury. She didn't sob. There was no heart-wrenching scene of a girl who'd just lost her happy ending. There was just the rivers of water flooding from her eyes and carrying on their backs the life that could've been.

Scorpious Malfoy was in a foul mood. It wasn't exactly a rare occurrence that he was like this, but what made it worse was that Rose hadn't come back to the student head's common room so he didn't have anyone to take it out on. He loved to make her angry, he knew all the right buttons to press to make her eyes flash and her face attempt to outdo her hair in colour and the look on her face when she'd challenge him to a duel and they'd battle it out with all manner of spells. Looking back on some of those fights, he really wondered how on earth they'd manage to avoid about a million detentions and how they'd managed to be granted the positions of head boy and girl. It was a mystery. Even with their impeccable grades. But she wasn't here, she hadn't returned from her patrol yet, even though it had finished a couple of hours ago, he presumed she'd be admonishing some trouble-makers, or getting off with her smarmy boyfriend. _Hold on Scor, smarmy? Since when did you have any opinion, let alone a negative one on Weasel-bee's boyfriend? _He thought to himself. When he couldn't provide an answer past, _because you've been madly in love with her for 4 years you prick! _He gave up on puzzling it over and let out a huff flopping onto his back on one of the sofas in front of the fire. There was something mildly hypnotic about the warmth and the flickering light that the fire cast on the ceiling that soon had Scorpious drifting to dreamland.

When Rose got back to the student head's common room the fire was low in the grate, almost burned to nothing and there was a warm darkness cast over the room. Unfortunately it was this darkness that caused Rose to trip over a footstool, stubbing her toe in the process in her fall to the floor with a thump. "Son of a banshee!" she cursed quietly, half at the footstool and half at her stupid ex-boyfriend, as she picked herself up and limped up to her room. Rose's accident had woken Scorpious from his slumber on the sofa, in the darkness she hadn't seen him. He on the other hand heard the thickness of her voice and even in the low light could tell she'd been crying, allowing her the dignity of getting to her room without knowing she'd been witnessed in her state, he waited before heading up to his own with a resolve forming in his chest that he'd make her forget all about whatever it was that had made her cry. _That's going to be an impressive feat considering she hates your guts _a voice in his head whispered.


	2. I've had it with you

Chapter 2 - I've had it with you

It had been two weeks since Rose had caught her boyfriend, now ex, in a broom cupboard with the Hufflepuff girl, and to her rather great delight the hex she cast on the two of them still hadn't worn off and had stymied Madame Patil enough that she had not been able to remove it. It had made facing them a hell of a lot easier. But then again who wouldn't want to see the faces of those who'd shattered your reality with 'Cheater' and 'Doxie' written in big itchy, sparkly, purple warts across their faces. Honestly, the darker side of Rose got up in the morning with the sole intention of seeing them just so she'd have something to cheer her up, rather than having to mope around all day still suffering over her broken heart. Sometimes she wondered if she really was a true Gryffindor, after all those kind of underhanded malevolent thoughts were way more Slytherin than she could find comfort in. She mentally chastised herself for being so shallow-minded. Being in Slytherin didn't automatically make you a bad person, no matter what her dad or cousin James said.

"Miss Weasley, do you have some disagreement with my teaching?" Professor Hawker asked drawing Rose back to the present and causing her to realise she'd been absent-mindedly shaking her head.

"Umm n-no" she stammered and damn that Weasley blush, "I'm sorry I, uh, had a slight ringing in my ears, just trying to shake it off, sorry sir"

Neither Professor Hawker nor the rest of her potions class looked as if they believed her but he let it slide and continued on with the lesson with only an "I hope the ringing discontinues plaguing you Miss Weasley" followed by the sniggers of Carmelia Bulstrode, Penny Parkinson and their dreadful cronies.

Rose held her head up high, ignoring the sniggers and tried to focus on the lesson. However, for some reason a pair of pale grey eyes watching her, kept her distracted.

That had to have been the longest day of Rose's life. On top of having a pretty full day of Potions, then Alchemy, and she didn't get a break due to having to finish an Astronomy essay, followed by double Ancient Runes, then Rose found herself being hounded through lunch by ex-boyfriend Thaddeus Edgecombe and the Hufflepuff girl who Rose discovered was called Lauren Atlee, demanding that she remove the warts, then DADA and then her only free hour spent in the library writing the Transfiguration essay that was due the next week (but it was always prudent to get that sort of thing done early). By the time the school day was over Rose felt exhausted but knew that she still had to keep it together for the Astronomy practical that was to be held that evening. It seemed especially difficult as she came face to face with Thaddeus for the second time that day. "Rose, babe, we need to talk" he started. Rose grimaced, she had always hated it when he called her 'babe'. "Please, do something about these warts, its not fair!" he implored. Rose appraised him unimpressed.

"In my eyes its little more than you deserve and like I told you at lunch, they'll disappear soon anyway" she said loftily before moving to walk past him, but he reached out and grabbed her arm pulling her round to face him rather roughly.

"I tried to do this the nice way but if you won't co-operate, I'm going to have to be not so nice" he hissed. Rose had seen this side of him before, only once or twice and it had never been directed at her, it had even been in defence of her, but facing it was something quite different, and even though Rose was strong, Thad was on a whole different level. He really did love being a beater.

"Get off me, what do you think you're going to do?" she managed to spit at him despite the fear that was clawing at her insides.

"You think you're soo untouchable, precious Rose Weasley, eldest child of two-thirds of the Golden Trio, such a gift to humanity!" he taunted.

"You didn't seem to mind when you came to the Wizstock music festival with my family in the summer and what the fuck does my family have to do with anything?" she demanded.

He laughed in her face, his expression twisted even more unpleasantly by the presence of the multiple sparkly warts. "The only reason I ever went out with you was so that when we left Hogwarts, I could fast-track to a high level Ministry position on the back of having you as my fiancé, then ditch you when I no longer needed your family's good name" Rose felt like she'd just been slapped, her mind refused to believe this information, Thad was just angry, he didn't really mean that, they'd been so happy... Then she snapped.

"I've had it with you! You cheat on me! Get your just dessert and dare to come and bitch at me because it hasn't disappeared at the drop of a hat! And then you have the nerve to basically tell me that you only spent two years making me fall in love with you just so you could get a stupid cushy job and a stupid cushy life, AND YOU THINK THAT THIS WILL REALLY MAKE ME REVERSE THE HEX I PUT ON YOU AND THAT GIRL! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME YOU FLOBBY-WANDED DEMENTOR BUGGERER!" she was red-faced and yelling by the time she finished her tirade. Unfortunately, her rant had not had the desired effect of shocking Thaddeus into letting her go, instead he slammed her up against the corridor wall. The shock of the impact made her teeth rattle and flushed the wind from her lungs.

"That's enough!" A low and angry voice commanded from just down the corridor. Thaddeus released Rose, stepping away from her as she sank down the wall to try and recover her breath, black dots clouded her vision so she couldn't see who her saviour was. "70 points from Ravenclaw and I'll be filing an official report with your head of house Edge_scum_, now I'll warn you on a personal level, go near Rose again and you will be covered in itchy, sparkly purple warts for so long and on so much of your body that you will scratch all your skin off and will be horrifically mutilated for the rest of your life do I make myself clear" Rose had never heard a voice more deadly and was slightly relieved that she couldn't currently see the expression that went with it.

"Yes" was Thad's faint and about 2-octaves-too-high reply.

"Good, now get out of my sight you disgusting blast-ended skank" Rose could hear Thad's hurried footsteps as he fled and her eyesight managed to finally rid itself of those damn black dots. "Need a hand?" The voice which only moments ago had been filled with venom was now soft, even with the slight edge of irritation, as if the voice's owner was still pissed off despite very thoroughly dressing down Rose's cheating ex-boyfriend. Rose looked up into the pale grey eyes of her nemesis, whose hand was outstretched to help her up and whose face had nothing but concern scrawled across it. _Well that's a new look for him, who knew he was capable of that emotion? _She thought to herself, but took the hand nonetheless. When she was up, Scorpious released her and she suddenly realised what a close call that could have been. In the moment that Thaddeus had slammed her into the wall she'd realised that she had no idea to what extent he would go to or who he really was for that matter. They do say how well do you really know your loved ones? Her breath caught in her throat and her chest hitched causing her to make a slightly strangled sob-like noise. Gentle hands went to her shoulders as Scorpious tried to look into her eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked softly, kindly and almost lovingly. _No, _she thought but she wasn't going to tell him that, _You're Scorpious I'm-such-a-prince-worship-me-lowly-peasants Malfoy. You're not supposed to come to my rescue or be so, so damn nice to me! You're supposed to rock up and be a total unicorn turd and piss me off and then I'm supposed to get mad at you and have a duel with you and you're not supposed to be so caring or kind or ever help me or ever make me feel this safe! _Her inner voice was screaming as her breath caught again and the tears welled up. Seeing this, Scorpious pulled Rose's hood up over her head, hiding her face and her tears, gently took hold of her had and lead her through the school to the usual spot of her best friend and cousin Albus. He was almost always there, behind the clockface that overlooked the bridge to the Quidditch pitch. Albus registering Scorpious got up from his seat to greet him cheerfully "How's it going Scorpious? What's with the serious face?" he asked jovially. Albus had his own rebellious streak and had struck up a friendship with Scorpious almost immediately after they'd boarded the Hogwarts Express, despite his uncle warning him and Rose away from the young Malfoy.

Scorpious did not return the cheerful attitude, "Delivery for you, she needs tea and chocolate biscuits, she's had a bit of a shock" he told Albus, his voice as serious as his face as he handed Rose's hand to Albus and passed her a handkerchief.

"Rose... What?" Albus asked confused but she was quiet. She wasn't crying anymore but she had a few stray tears making tracks down her face that she wiped away with Scorpious's handkerchief.

Scorpious moved to leave, knowing that although it was not his place to look after her (no matter how much he secretly wanted it to be, not that he would ever admit that to himself) he had done what he could to ensure she was well taken care of. "Scorpious" Rose's quiet voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Mmm?" he hummed turning back to look at her. She looked a mess with her fiery red hair (that was generally untameable anyway) ruffled by having had her hood up, her bright blue eyes bleary and red from the tears and her nose slightly runny. Merlin, she was beautiful.

"Thanks" was all she said, and between them, they, who fought and competed, going toe to toe at every opportunity, didn't need anything more than that.

He nodded in acknowledgement, "I know you'd do the same for me" he said as he left. Rose and Albus watched him go.

"Let's go to the kitchens and get you that tea and you can tell your old cousin Albus what the hell this is all about, okay?" he said pulling her into a hug. She nodded against his shoulder, the warm feeling of family comfort, helping to settle her rattled nerves before they headed off to the kitchens and the overflowing hospitality of the school house-elves.

Scorpious could kill Thaddeus Edgecombe. He wouldn't of course, but still... The memory wouldn't stop playing repeatedly in his head.

_Walking down the corridor to the sound of Rose's furious voice "...you only spent two years making me fall in love with you just so you could get a stupid cushy job and a stupid cushy life, AND YOU THINK THAT THIS WILL REALLY MAKE ME REVERSE THE HEX I PUT ON YOU AND THAT GIRL! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME YOU FLOBBY-WANDED DEMENTOR BUGGERER!"_

_He turned the corner onto the corridor where she and obviously the vile Edgecombe were, only to see him slam her into the wall. Scorpious saw red and suddenly without conscious thought he had his wand pointed at Edgecombe's head. "That's enough!" his voice was surprisingly low considering he wanted to scream at that arse, who up until two weeks ago was Weasel-bee's boyfriend. He figured that his longing to inflict a multitude of violent curses must've shown on his face because Edgecombe looked scared and stepped away from Rose. "70 points from Ravenclaw and I'll be filing an official report with your head of house Edge_scum_, now I'll warn you on a personal level, go near Rose again and you will be covered in itchy, sparkly purple warts for so long and on so much of your body that you will scratch all your skin off and will be horrifically mutilated for the rest of your life do I make myself clear" he spat at the offensive creature who quivered at the passing of judgement and replied with a feeble "Yes". _

"_Good, now get out of my sight you disgusting blast-ended skank" _

Scorpious still didn't know how he had let the boy go so lightly, but something inside tugged at him. _You did it because you knew Rose needed to be looked after more than that guy needed his face rearranged. _Which was something that Scorpious could actually do with the right spell, but that wasn't the point. He had just finished giving his verbal account of what had happened as well as his written report to Professor Maddox the Astronomy teacher and head of Ravenclaw house. She had been very solemn in hearing what had happened and told Scorpious to inform Rose, that if she was not feeling up to it, she could be excused from the Astronomy practical taking place that evening. Scorpious wondered if she'd be back at their common room yet. Probably not. She wasn't in the common room when he arrived back so he decided to take a bath in the prefect's bathroom to kill time and de-stress, it was only 6:30pm but that also meant that fewer people would be likely to be trying to take a bath and he could have the peace he needed to try and stop thinking about how much he would like to hex Thaddeus Edgecombe halfway to hell.


	3. It'sEasierWhenYou'reJustBeingA Broomhead

Chapter 3 – It's easier when you're just being a broomhead

When Scorpius got to the prefect's bathroom he discovered that he wasn't the only one who thought they had a good chance at a bath in solitude. Her red hair, which usually flowed to just below her shoulders, was swept back and up into a messy bun that revealed the length of her neck. He knew he should probably turn around and walk away but he couldn't seem to form the thought, instead moving towards her. A bench stopped his advance however as he ungracefully walked into it, causing him to stumble. The noise caused Rose to look up and she saw Scorpious now sitting on the bench and rubbing his shin. She couldn't help but giggle. "It isn't funny," he automatically snapped, but immediately regretted the move, "Anyway, sorry to intrude, I'll just go and bathe at the dorm." His shin no longer hurt as much, and he realised that it was probably not okay for him to share a bath with Rose who, as far as he could see (which wasn't far due to the mass of bubbles), was not wearing anything at all.

"You can stay if you like," Her quiet voice floated over to him and his eyebrows hit his hairline, _if she says anything else like that it isn't a hot bath I'll be needing, _he thought. Rose caught on to his embarrassment, "I'm wearing a bikini if that's what you're worried about," she told him and he tried to stifle the relieved breath he let out. Knowing that she probably wouldn't bother him, they were still enemies after all, he stripped to his swimming trunks and lowered himself into the bath a few metres down from her. They sat in a relaxed silence for a while just soaking away the day. Rose let out a long tired sigh as she shifted in the bath which was then followed by a sharp intake of breath and a "What the?!" which drew Scorpious' attention. What he saw removed all the effects of the calm the bath had given him and he was once again livid. Up one side of her back there were dark purple patches most prominent on her shoulder blade and midway up her ribcage and lighter purple spots on the other side. He knew they were impact bruises but they weren't from falling off a broom in quidditch, these were from that afternoon.

Rose had been relaxing in an Albus-advised bath when Scorpious had tripped. For some reason, seeing him, the-man-of-grace-Malfoy, bash his shin in a goofy manner, had helped to release that final knot of tension in her chest. She had told him that he could stay, and she was surprised at how happy she was when he did. Even if he chose to sit at the other end of the bath. Despite tending to go for each other's throats, there were plenty of times that Rose could remember them like this, in peaceful quiet, as if, just by being close to her enemy, the rest of the world melted away. She sighed as her mind returned to that afternoon and she repressed the urge to scream in anger, the shift that she'd made with the sigh caused her shoulder blade to press into the side of the bath and a surprisingly sharp pain radiated across her back. She hissed in a breath before letting out an involuntary "What the?!" Twisting to get a better look she caught Scorpious' expression. She couldn't explain the mix on his face. He looked like a mix between pained and furious. When he saw she'd caught him staring he turned his face away and used the best Malfoy self-defence tactic he had, be condescending.

"What happened to your wand?" he asked bitingly.

"What?" she was slightly startled by his tone.

"When your boyfriend" "Ex-boyfriend," She cut in.

"Fine. When your _ex_-boyfriend had you grabbed by the arm, where was it?" he demanded.

"I didn't think I'd need it, it was supposed to just be a shouting match," She replied her voice and eyes driving icicles into the back of his neck.

"If I hadn't been there you could have been hurt even worse, you were _weak_ Weasel-bee," he sneered.

The silence that followed caused Scorpious' residual anger to turn to worry that he'd pushed her too far, after all it had only taken place about three hours ago. When he looked at her, he saw the blush was high in her face and she did indeed look like she was about to cry. But then her expression shifted and she took on a faraway look and let out a sigh that seemed like it would have rather been a scream. "Thanks," she said, puzzling him. She even let out a low chuckle, "It's easier when you're just being a broomhead,"

Scorpious felt his own expression soften. Rose let out another of those damn sighs. He made a decision. "Rose," he called and him actually using her name rather than Weasley, or Weasel-bee shocked her into looking right at him, "After dinner, meet me by the fountain in the court-yard under the clock-tower." She started to form a question but he stopped her, "Don't ask why and don't refuse, Professor Maddox told me that you could miss the practical so your evening is free," he paused for a second, "Well," he corrected himself, "It isn't anymore because you're coming with me." And with the finality of that statement, he pulled himself out of the bath and left to change, leaving Rose with the very pleasing mental image of his quidditch-toned form to keep her company before she decided to dress and head to dinner.

Dinner was quiet, for her at least, her family was rowdy as ever although they seemed to be going easy on her, she deduced that Albus must have given a heavily censored version of the events that had taken place earlier that day. She knew it must've been heavily censored, otherwise that cauldron bum, Thaddeus Edgecombe, would not have been sitting eating his dinner at the Ravenclaw table. She was comforted by seeing Edgecombe repeatedly and nervously turn his head to the Slytherin table where he would meet at every occasion the terrifying and piercing glare, of Scorpious Malfoy. Intermittently, he would look to the Gryffindor table where he would meet the combined wroth of the Potter-Weasley clan and friends who were sat there. Rose had never seen anyone more stuck between a rock and a hard place. It made her feel secure to know just how many people had her back. Even if she was bemused that I-only-protect-myself Malfoy was one of them. She couldn't help sighing though. The need to scream was becoming a suffocating urge, even if the burden was relieved somewhat when she was with her family, it wasn't a permanent fix. But at least the food was delicious, a range of crisp short-crust savoury pies as the main, with profiteroles in a heavenly chocolate sauce for dessert. It helped to fill her up a bit and make her feel more like herself again. Just as she was about to head off to the Astronomy practical, she remembered what Malfoy had said to her, and out of curiosity, if nothing else, she went to meet him. Even if it went horribly she could always look forward to a good duel.


	4. I Know Who You Are Rose Weasley

Hey readers! I just wanted to say thanks a lot for checking out my humble fanfiction, it really means a huge amount to me ^_^ and thanks all you people who are following this story and have written reviews, it's really cool of you!

Onto the next installment!

Chapter 4 – I know who you are, Rose Weasley

Scorpious sat on the edge of the fountain. _What if she doesn't come? What if she forgot? Should I have sent her a note to remind her? _He mentally slapped himself. He was not a third-year, waiting for a girl to take on a date to Hogsmeade. He was Scorpius Malfoy, seventh-year, head boy heart-throb and both captain and seeker on the house quidditch team, who was, for some reason, about to do something nice for the person who he hates. _Loves..._taunted that inner voice and he shook his head to get it out.

"Something the matter Malfoy?" Rose's voice caused him to start, he hadn't heard her approach and almost went backwards into the fountain. Thankfully, for his ego's sake, his quidditch reflexes kicked in and he saved himself. Rose was laughing at him when he walked over to her.

"Shut it Weasel-bee," he said but he didn't sound angry and Rose caught herself thinking that his slightly embarrassed lop-sided smile was rather cute. He suddenly took her hand, which startled her into snatching it away. He looked at her unimpressed. "Really?" When she couldn't think of something to say he sighed, "Fine, then this'll have to do but if we get caught and there are rumours about you having a bondage fetish, it isn't my fault." He slipped his tie from around his neck and twined it around their wrists tying them together. He then produced a blindfold which Rose looked at sceptically. "It's just part of the fun and I swear on mine and my mother's lives that I'm not going to do anything to you, okay?" He looked like he was telling the truth so she nodded and he slipped it over her eyes, the fingers of their bound hands brushing lightly against each other and causing electricity to run up each of their arms. "It's a little bit of a way so we'll have to fly if we want to make it back in time for patrol," she nodded again. "_Accio Moontrimmer Omega!" _his broom soared gracefully into view and he grabbed it with his free hand. They both mounted the broom and he kicked off.

Whilst in flight and blindfolded, Rose had a hard time ignoring her proximity to Malfoy. That might have partially been due to the fact that she had her arms wrapped around his muscular torso; half due to being tied to him, half to avoid falling off the broom. She could smell his natural scent, it made her think of sunbeams, and his warmth radiated out of his back helping to keep away the chill of the night, it drew her to him. Somewhere between being tired from the day and feeling rather secluded in her blindfolded state, she relaxed into leaning against his back, hugging him from behind. She could hear his heart thumping in his chest and was slightly concerned that was faster than what was probably healthy for an athletic boy of his age.

When they touched down Scorpious Malfoy was very glad that Rose was blindfolded. It meant that he had a moment to suppress the blush that had stained his cheeks red as soon as she'd drawn close to him. The sound of rushing water was loud in both of their ears. When Malfoy took off the blindfold, Rose gasped in awe at the view and where they were standing. She could see the castle and the grounds lit by the light of the moon and stars. She and Malfoy were standing on a large rock, about 5 metres in diameter, at the top of a waterfall. If she stood at the very edge of the rock she could watch as the water disappeared into oblivion. It was beautiful. Malfoy untied their wrists. "Why did you bring me here?" Rose had to shout to be heard above the sound of the water.

"So you can finally scream" Scorpious replied.

Rose blushed indignantly and her temper flared up "I do _not _need to scream!"

"Yes you do," she shook her head and stepped away from him but he continued, "We might be school-yard enemies, but I know who you are Rose Weasley! You're proud and try to take everything onto your own back, you find it difficult to let others know how you really feel even if it's tearing you apart! Even though you despise me, I'm betting I know you best and you probably know me best as well, because we've seen the worst of each other!" his voice was loud in her ears even above the sound of the water. In response to his statement she turned away from him and walked to the edge of the rock. For a split second Scorpious thought she was about to jump, but she didn't. Instead Rose Weasley screamed. She screamed like she had never screamed before. She yelled reams of obscenities into the beyond. She cursed everything and everyone. It was about 45 minutes before she was done. Rose's voice raw and a wave of exhaustion broke over her, causing her to lower herself to the ground and sit, legs crossed before the falls. Scorpious cautiously approached and sat beside her. "Are you okay?" he mouthed.

"What?" Rose yelled, she'd never been good at lip-reading.

He leaned close to her ear, his warm breath sending shivers across her skin. "I said, are you okay?"

As he pulled away she turned to catch his expression, accidentally causing her lips to brush along his cheekbone. Scorpious froze, his face hovering close to hers, their lips centimetres apart. They stayed that way, neither daring to move. It was like being in limbo as the rest of the world fell away, taken by the crashing, mighty river. Neither of them dared to breathe. An eternity could've passed and they wouldn't have known it. A shrill cry from somewhere in the forbidden forest broke their moment and they recoiled from each other. Scorpious caught a glance at his watch. "Shit! We're going to be late!" he sprang up from his seat and rushed to his broom, Rose seconds after him. As if nothing had happened they flew at full speed back to the castle and towards their head boy and girl duties.


	5. Can we be friends now?

Hey my fabulous readers! I wanted to release this chapter a little while ago but I was on this trip for uni, and a bunch of other random stuff happened so yeah... here it is, i hope you like it! (Also a big "THANK YOU!" to Esashar for helping me out with my stupid spelling mistakes and horrific grammar!) ^_^

Chapter 5 – Can we be friends now?

Rose wanted to avoid Scorpious after their moment over the waterfall, but fate seemed to have other ideas. October was in full swing and they were becoming increasingly busy with plans for the Halloween feast and Masquerade ball that students had petitioned for last year, and Rose and Scorpious, being head girl and boy, were therefore seen as the go-to people on the planning committee. This meant that they had to spend an endlessly increasing amount of time around each other sorting out those logistics on top of their meetings with heads of house, various members of the faculty and with each other to organise prefect patrols. They found that they barely had time for private lives as all other time was eaten up by studying. It was at this point, after a gruelling extra hour of Charms, that Rose found herself in a nice corner of the library with various books on the benefits of enforced energy loss when transmuting substances in Alchemy, when the boy she couldn't seem to avoid, yet again invaded her life. Scorpious looked tired, harried and slightly out of breath with his eyebrows knitted together at the bridge of his slender nose and spots of pinks on his high chiselled cheekbones... _Whoa Rose, you _cannot _be checking out Scorpious Malfoy! _She scolded herself. When he spotted her he ducked down the row of bookshelves to the secluded table where she sat. She frowned at him. "Can I hide here? Please" he begged, his voice low. Rose was about to ask why when a falsely high pitched pair of voices answered her question. "Scorpy baby! Where did you go?" cooed Carmelia Bulstrode and Penny Parkinson as they walked into view. Scorpius practically threw himself under the table as Rose recoiled at the sight of the make-up smeared girls. _Uncle Neville should check if the Herbology stock cupboard is missing any trowels, _she thought, looking at them layered in foundation, fake eyelashes and that grossly sticky shiny lip gloss. It caused her to shudder involuntarily. Unfortunately the harpies didn't fail to notice her action and strolled up to confront her. Scorpious seeing their legs as they approached hissed "Nice going Weasley!" to which she kicked him and was satisfied at the grunt of pain she achieved.

"You got something to say carrot top?" Penny demanded. Rose was rather at a loss here, she frankly had a lot to say, "You're wearing enough make-up that it could nicely cover about fifty separate women," or "You're hateful attitudes make the two of you insufferable to be around," or "No one will ever take you seriously with that much skin showing," or "Scorpious Malfoy will never love you!" The last one surprised her a bit but she shook it aside and stuck with the safe response. "Yes, yes I do."

"Well what is it then? Out with it!" Carmelia chimed in.

Scorpious lightly gripped her ankle in a silent plea that she be kind to him and not give him away.

There was a pause before Rose replied, "I was just going to say, the two of you are being very noisy in the library so I'm taking 5 points from Slytherin, from each of you and that Malfoy mentioned to me earlier that he was having a careers session this evening so he's probably at that, now leave!" She finished sharply.

The girls glared venomously at her before turning on their non-school uniform regulation, overly high heels and strutted away. From under the table Scorpious let out and exaggerated sigh of relief before clambering out. "Thank you."

"It's fine, I can't imagine what it's like to have to deal with that on a regular basis," she joked.

"Yeah, well at least they don't physically attack me," he responded lightly but then realised what he had said and the mood darkened. "I'm sorry, that was stupid of me, I shouldn't have said it." He grabbed his bag from the floor and made to leave when Rose realised she didn't want him to go.

"You can stay and study if you like," she called nervously as a small blush spotted bled across her face. "I mean, um, well, it's quiet back here and those harpies are unlikely to come back and well..." she trailed off not sure what the say. She looked up from her notes which she had obstinately been staring at. Scorpious was looking at her with a small smile and eyes like mercury. His expression was extremely soft considering his sharp bone structure and it made Rose's heart rate kick up a notch. "Yeah, alright, cheers," he said as he slid into the seat just around the table's corner from her. Scorpious pulled out his books and quill and they both set to studying.

It was a couple of hours later that Rose realised two things, that dinner would be very soon and Scorpious was passed out on top of his potions essay. Some of his hair had come away from its usually combed back form and lay strewn across his face. _He looks so defenceless _Rose thought as she brushed the lock away tucking it behind his ear and earning a sleep ridden sigh. A warmth spread through her chest as she examined his face. High cheekbones, smooth cream coloured skin, soft lips. There were shadows under his eyes that matched hers. Thinking about it, she realised how similar they were. It also got her to thinking about the waterfall. About why he would know about such a perfect place for screaming at the world's injustices and not worrying about being heard or disturbed. He was someone who didn't want to burden others either. He never complained about the workload or about anything really, except her existence but that was a given between them. Maybe he just needed someone who understood to listen. _I could listen,_ the words floated up in her mind before she could quash them. No. She wasn't allowed to be friends with a Malfoy. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny might be relaxed about that kind of thing when it came to Albus, even her mum would be okay with it if it was her. But her father? He would probably eat his entire collection of super rare Chocolate Frog cards before he would let that happen. But then again, it wasn't his life to interfere with. It was hers and she wanted to change things. "Hey, you need to wake up now" she said softly, whilst gently shaking him awake.

"Hmm?" he mumbled as he lifted his head off the table and off his potions essay. There was a black smudge mark on the side of his face, his hair was messy on that side too and as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes Rose couldn't help but feel he looked absolutely adorable. She couldn't suppress the giggle.

"What?" he asked sleepily. When she didn't answer with anything but giggles he whined, "What is it?"

Rose saw that she was on a path to upsetting him and controlled her self. She smiled as she moved his hands away from his face, brushed his hair back with her hand, and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the ink off his face. Scorpious didn't fail to notice it was the same handkerchief he had given her when he'd told off Edgecombe. When she stopped she realised how close they were. She also realised that her actions just now were inappropriately familiar for mortal enemies. She was tired of being mortal enemies. She looked into his eyes. Damn that silver, he wasn't giving anything away. She moved even closer and she managed to get surprise out of him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. There was a moment for him to get over his shock, _Merlin's giant pants! Rose Weasley is hugging me, I could die of happiness!,_before he wrapped his own arms around her in reciprocation. After a while she spoke, "Can we be friends now?" The question was timid and filled with uncertainty, six years of animosity doesn't mean nothing, but Scorpious could tell that she meant it.

"I bloody well hope so, otherwise this hug is super-awkward!" he joked as they pulled away from each other. They both laughed quietly.

"I'm hungry," Rose said, "Lets go to dinner."


	6. Iknewit! You'recompletelyinlovewithhim!

Once again reiterating my lack of ownership of the amazingness that is Harry Potter, even though I wish I did! I only own the random characters that I made up. That is all.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you so much for reviewing and following and favouriting, it is not only awesome of you but it also gives me happy feels and it really motivates me to write more. That and an unhealthily large volume of coffee.

p.s. I'm going to release the next chapter on Halloween 'cause it's Halloween themed, and what I've written already is crazy long in comparison to the other chapters I've so far published for this fic! Marauders help me! XD

anyway, enough of my coffee hyped/sleep deprived ramblings! ON WITH THE STORY! ^O^

Chapter 6 - I knew it! You're completely in love with him!

"Hey Al," Scorpious started.

"Yeah?" Albus replied. The pair were lying in Albus' spot in the clock-tower, staring at the rafters and clockwork overhead. Over the years this had become somewhat a habit for them. It had started when they wanted a place to hang out that was too far off the beaten track (to far from the attractive female population) for James to come and bitch at Scorpious for being friends with his "Easily led little brother". It was a Sunday, around 2pm, they could have checked considering they were inside a bloody massive clock, but they couldn't be bothered. Autumn had set in and the clouds hung grey and heavy in the sky.

"Me and Rose are friends now," Scorpious informed Albus.

"I know, she told me two days ago," Albus said dryly, "Although I can see why its big news for the two of you." They both laughed at that. It was a strange novelty, a Weasley friends with a Malfoy. It wasn't one that Scorpious was going to take for granted.

"There's one more thing," Scorpious began, Albus turned his head to look at him as he paused dramatically, "I might be in love with her."

"Well that was anticlimactic," Albus scoffed turning back to the ceiling.

Scorpious sat up and glared at his friend. "I'm serious you know, this is troubling me! We're only just friends and I'm already on the path to cocking it up! I need help!"

"I can certainly vouch for that!" A cheerful voice called out from the top of the stairs. Albus bolted upright whilst the blood drained from Scorpious' face.

"How much of that conversation did you hear?" Albus asked his voice slightly higher than it should have been in concern for his friend.

"Just the end of it," Rose replied, she notice the frozen pale expression on Scorpious' face. "What's got your wand in a knot?"

He defrosted, "Hmm?" She shook her head at him.

"Nevermind, I was just wondering if you'd both like to go with me, Hugo and Lily to Hogsmeade for a drink at the Three Broomsticks." Her face looked hopeful but the boys made an effort to look very comfortable on the floor, "Oh come _on_, I need this, they're both bringing their partners and I don't want to be the lonely fifth wheel, they made me promise to come but if you two come then we can be three spare wheels together! Or something..." she trailed off as she lost her train of thought. The weather forecast for getting the boys off the floor wasn't looking too good. She pulled a Dominique and brought out the crocodile tears. "I just, * sniff *, don't want to be left out, * hic *, and I'm still feeling shaky about everything that happened with Thad, * sniff *, and I'm not ready to deal with people being all couple-ly around me!" She knew her performance had been terrible, but she hoped to score points for effort. With dewy eyes she turned to her audience who looked at her with appalled expressions, for a moment she thought she'd been found out.

"Oh god Rosie you're right, I'm sorry," Albus said sincerely, getting up and pulling her into a hug. Scorpious also got to his feet mute with shock and hovered near the hugging cousins, not entirely certain about what the official protocol was in comforting lifelong-enemies-who-you-have-very-recently-become -friends-with.

"We'll go, okay?" he said gently from the side. Rose nodded against Albus' shoulder and pulled out of the hug, wiping away her tears.

"Thank you guys," she whispered and internally high-fived herself.

A light rain was falling when Rose met Hugo with his girlfriend Vanya Wood and Lily with her latest boyfriend Chris Creevy. The boys weren't there yet and Rose had a slightly uneasy feeling that they wouldn't show up as the large clock ticked away the minutes after 3:15pm. Her fears proved unfounded as the boys strolled out into the court-yard. Albus' hair was a mess as usual, he was wearing his well-worn green jumper that matched his eyes and a Gryffindor scarf to battle the cold. Scorpious was similarly dressed in an eye-matching jumper but instead he had an almost ludicrously long silver-grey cashmere scarf that, though looped around his neck twice, had ends that brushed against his knees. Rose thought he looked kind of cute. Not that she would admit that. Ever. Nope...

"Yo," "How's it going." The group that had been there from before, received the greetings. Lily glowered a bit, but that was due to them being late and making them stand about in the rain more than anything else. A slightly awkward, stilted silence settled over the group as they walked out under the curious stares of their fellow students. Scorpious could feel the nervous blush crawling up his neck and was glad he had his scarf to hide it. Albus could sense his best friend's concern and patted him gently on the back to reassure him. Scorpious was glad that he could keep his pride when he saw that Rose, who had been chatting to her little brother and his girlfriend, hadn't noticed his faltering from being I'm-so-comfortable-everywhere-I-go-because-the-sun -practically-shines-out-of-my-arse Malfoy.

The Three Broomsticks was a hive of activity, especially around the bar area so the group decided to find a booth to sit and ditch their outside clothing before attempting to get drinks. A gaggle of sixth year students strutted in and the noise around the bar intensified. "What in Merlin's pants is going on?" Lily huffed glowering at the source of the noise. Her glower soon melted into a grin and she started waving like a fool, "FRANK!"

A figure extracted themselves from the knot of people and came over to their table, the effect on the bar area was tangible. In the light, a very handsome young man with slightly ruffled hair and a generally rugged demeanour stood before them. "Frank!" Rose and Hugo chorused and suddenly everyone was up and trying to hug this newcomer. Except for Albus, who gave a little wave, and Scorpious who sat back, a little peeved at Rose's desperation to fling her arms around the man. Frank Longbottom was the son of Neville Longbottom, and, like his father, had a ungainly start at Hogwarts. He had friends with the Weasley-Potter clan who he grew up with, but outside the influence of the group of childhood friends, he wasn't popular. With girls he was completely overlooked. He was clumsy, forgetful and though he was talented, many of the teachers despaired for him. All that had changed when Frank had hit his 5th year at Hogwarts. He had a growth spurt which left him one of the tallest in his year and rid him of his puppy fat, he had become chiselled and wiry. In that year he became the number one heart-throb much to the annoyance of James who, in the year below, was just hitting his stride when it came to hitting on girls. Like fine wine and excellent single malt whisky, age only seemed to do good things to Frank Longbottom. He even began to grow out of his lack of co-ordination. After graduating from Hogwarts two years ago, Frank was back to visit his family and report his findings to the ministry, he had been doing research on the effect of climate change on gravity resistant trees and other plant species in Nepal. He had, like his father, excelled in Herbology.

"This might be a little redundant, but would you mind if I joined you?" Frank asked and the group laughed, "Well... would you?" Frank hovered still looking a little unsure. It wasn't until Scorpious dragged a chair for him from the adjacent table that he was acknowledged. Frank sat but scrutinized Scorpious. "You're Malfoy." Even though it was more of a statement rather than a question Scorpious still replied with a "Yes."

There was a pause and the atmosphere started to get awkward. Rose wondered if Frank was going to be rude to Scorpious, she slipped her hand under the table into his as a comfort. Scorpious gave her a little squeeze as Frank spoke again, "I don't think we've ever actually talked, I'm Frank by the way, if this lot haven't already given that away!" He grinned and held out his hand, which Scorpious took and they shook.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Scorpious"

"Well now that the introductions are over, I'm going to get the first round in, who wants to help me carry the drinks?" Albus announced standing up a little more sharply than necessary.

"I will!" Rose volunteered, she slipped her hand out of Scorpious' and followed her cousin to the bar.

When Rose reached the bar, which for some reason Albus had practically fled to, she noticed that he looked incredibly uncomfortable and was sporting a Weasley blush. "Al, are you okay? You look sort of, well, red."

He nodded but didn't elaborate. "Is something the matter, are you feeling unwell?" He shook his head. Rose felt a little stymied. _Nothings wrong but he's redder than my hair, it isn't particularly warm in here so what?..._ Her mind scrolled through possible reasons and stopped at the only conclusion plausible to her. A sly grin stretched across her face.

"I do _not_ like that expression Rose," Albus glanced at her but otherwise tried to avoid her gaze.

"I know why you're blushing!" A sing-song tone dominated her voice as she poked his shoulder playfully.

"You do not!"

"Yes!"

"No!" Albus knew he sounded like a petulant child, but he didn't care. He risked a glance at the table and saw Frank looking at him curiously which made him flush all the more and hastily look away.

"I knew it! You're completely in love with him!" Rose crowed and Albus gave her arm a light slap.

"Say that a little louder will you, I'm not sure if they heard you across the Black Lake!" He hissed before, turning with a smile towards the barman and ordering Butterbeers for all of them except Frank who he knew preferred Knotgrass Mead. He only realised after he'd ordered, that knowing Frank's favourite drink was not going to convince his cousin that he wasn't in love with him. Rose kept grinning. Albus had always been a bit of an odd man out when it came to dating in their family. It didn't help that James was his brother and had therefore snogged the majority of the girls at Hogwarts, but even so. His relationships were few and far between and only lasted a few dates before he'd cut them off saying "I doesn't feel like it'll go anywhere." Rose also knew that one of the reasons his relationships with girls didn't last was because he preferred dating guys. When he did, he'd date them a little longer, and of course there had also been that incident when she'd caught Albus snogging Lysander Scamander after hours... But anyway him fancying Frank made a lot of oddities click in her memory. Like how during the Christmas holidays last year when Frank visited, Albus had been a lot quieter than usual and flushed, at the time Rose had thought it was just his cold but now... and when, during the summer Albus had moped around for a few days after finding out that Frank wasn't coming to Wizstock with them, she had just thought he was missing his best friend Scorpious who he knew would be there but he wouldn't be allowed to see... and then there was that sea lavender plant that Frank had given Albus for his fifteenth birthday, the fact it was still alive was testament to Albus' feelings, he hadn't gotten the nickname Plants' bane Albus in Herbology lessons for nothing. They paid for their drinks and as they were returning to the table a resolve formed in Rose's heart, she would do whatever she could to get Frank and Albus together.

Even though she wanted her cousin to get a boyfriend she decided that, for this meeting at least, she wasn't going to push their luck. She kept noticing Scorpious giving her slightly sharp looks whenever she got too close to Frank, or whenever she laughed a little too long at one of Frank's jokes, or when he caught her examining Frank's looks. It made her feel a warmth inside that she hadn't felt for a long time, not even in her and Thaddeus' relationship. _He's jealous!_ The treacherous thought flickered inside her head, she didn't fully understand why she'd even want that to be true. She and Scorpious were only just friends there was absolutely _no way in hell _that she would be having such feelings.

Scorpious knew he was being childish. As he stared at the emptiness that was his fifth mug of Butterbeer, he just couldn't help feeling irked by how well Rose got on with the devilishly handsome, well-travelled, mature, Frank Longbottom. _Hell, even I think he's hot, it's not difficult to guess what she's thinking! _Scorpious knew that Albus liked Frank, which, though it should have done, didn't do much to quell his frustration, even though he had made the firm decision, that until they had been friends for quite some time longer, Rose Weasley was OFF LIMITS.

"Well this has been fun but I need to be off, I've got a research paper that won't write itself," Frank explained as he stood up to make his exit. _Good. Leave quickly and date Al already! Stay away from Rose! _Frank received hugs from his friends and, even though he was horrifically jealous, Scorpious managed a jovial handshake. "I'll see you at the castle, since I was away for quite some time I think I'm going to stick around for Halloween, that ball sounds really fun I wish I'd got to do something like that when I was still at school!" Frank grinned and with a wave he left.

"You should ask him to be your date to the ball," Rose and Scorpious said in unintentional unison leaning into Albus so the others wouldn't hear.

"No! And don't speak in unison it's creepy!"

"Wait, how did _you _know?" The unison prevailed, "I'm his best friend of course I would know!"

"Know what?" Vanya, Hugo's girlfriend asked and the couples on the other side of table stared at the trio.

"Nothing!" They said, synchronised, except Albus' voice was utter panic whereas Scorpious and Rose had a matching devious tone.

"That's bloody creepy" Chris commented, Lily nodded her head vigorously. Hugo checked his watch, trying to be vigilant of their curfew, he really didn't want _another _detention for being late.

"Hey guys, it's time to go," he notified the group and they busied themselves with getting ready.

The sky was already dark even though it wasn't particularly late, only around 6 o'clock. A chill had taken the air in the absence of rain and it caused Rose to shiver. Her light jacket just wasn't doing the trick. Scorpious noticed her movement and gave an exaggerated sigh of exasperation. He unravelled his scarf from around his neck, then looped it so they both had scarf keeping them warm. So as not to strangle each other, he pulled her close and threaded her arm through his. His hand lingered on hers a little longer than necessary, indulging in the electricity that they both felt. His heart pounded loudly in his ears as he looked down into her bright blue eyes, that made him think of the depths of the Atlantic. "Will you be warm now?" His voice sounded far away in his own ears. Rose was as captivated as he was and only managed a nod.

Lily's annoyed chiding broke their connection, "Hey! You guys are slower than a dead Acromantula! Hurry up!"

Back in reality Scorpious noticed Albus looking slightly forlorn and left out with Chris and Lily snuggled up to each other at the front, Hugo holding hands with Vanya following them, and him and Rose linked by arm and scarf. He gave another overly exaggerated sigh. "Come on Al, don't leave me hanging." He offered his other arm which Albus laughed at, then took.

None of them felt the cold at all as they walked the rest of the way back.


	7. May I have this dance?

Happy Halloween my lovely readers! I hope you have a frightfully awesome day! Thanks for following/favouriting/reviewing/generally being awesome!

I'm going to a zombie apocalypse themed social tonight and i'm really excited! ANYWAY! Here is my halloween extra long (really bloody long) chapter for you! I hope you like it!

DISCLAIMER! As well as not owning Harry Potter or its characters/places/other aspects of its universe, I also do not own the song which Rose and Scorpious dance to at the ball, the song is called 'Good Man's Wife' and it is by Bella Hardy who is a seriously awesome folk singer and musician, her album is definitely worth purchasing :D

WHAT TIME IS IT? ADVENTURE TIME! (not really, it's actually time for you to read the chapter if my pre-ambling rambling hasn't put you off already!)

Chapter 7 – May I have this dance?

"Shit! I don't have a date!" Rose yelped. It was two days before the Halloween ball. Lily rolled her eyes at her cousin. They were in Lily's dorm in Gryffindor tower putting the final touches on their costumes. Lily was going as a succubus, Rose thought that the costume suited her a little too well. "I don't want to go all on my own! Grr, I'll just go stag with Albus!"

"Al isn't going stag," Lily told her.

"What?"

"He said he was going to ask someone a little while ago but I don't think he's done it yet, he really needs to get his arse into gear, _everyone's _got a date." Rose glared pointedly at her cousin. "Fine, everyone but you Rose, why don't you just ask Scorpious? I'm sure he'd go with you."

"Urgh, he's probably got a date already, I don't think there's a single girl at this school who _doesn't _want a piece of him."

"Oh really?" Lily asked, her voice heavily laden with suggestion. Rose felt her cheeks heat up.

"Shut up!"

"Shit! I don't have a date!" Scorpious yelped as he bolted into a seating position. He and Al were lying around in the clock-tower.

"Idiot, just ask Rose," Albus scolded.

"She _must_ have a date already! She's smart, funny, beautiful and merlin she's a wicked quidditch player, she's the most desirable woman at this school..." Scorpious trailed off, drinking in the insinuating leer of his best friend, "One, don't smile at me like that, its fucking creepy, and two, shut up!" He folded his arms haughtily. "It's not like you have a date."

"Well, no," Albus began, "But I will by the end of today, I hope, if you aren't too busy to help me go and talk to them, I mean, I can go by myself! Of course I can! I just, well, if you could, as moral support, I, well, I could really use a friend." Albus was the reddest that Scorpious had ever seen him, and that was including the fiasco with the transfiguration, the fizzing whizbee and the broken nose. "You really like this person!" Scorpious was overjoyed for his best friend. "Sooo, who is it? Is it Frank?" The rafters overhead had suddenly become a truly interesting sight to behold to Albus. "Come on, I'm going with you so I'm going to find out anyway, and if you don't tell me I'm going to purposely say something horrifically embarrassing and inappropriate when I meet them!" Scorpious gave Albus his best shit-eating grin, "Come on, tell your old uncle Scorpious!"

"If you're my uncle that makes you and Rose creepy incest." Scorpious looked slightly sickened, but quickly recovered.

"I see what you're trying to do! Distracting me won't work, tell me! It's Frank, isn't it?" Scorpious purposefully put on his best whiny bitch voice.

Albus let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine! Its..." He finished with an incoherent mumble.

"I'm sorry, who?"

"FRANK LONGBOTTOM! You were right! Dobby's sock! Do I really need to say it so loud that half of Hogsmeade can hear me?!" Albus snapped.

"Sorry," Scorpious said before muttering under his breath, "Drama queen!"

"I heard that!"

Rose was in a hurry, she had been called to see her Ancient Runes professor, Professor Airdale. She turned sharply around a corner and slammed into someone, smacking her forehead into their face, and causing them both to drop their bags. "Sorry!" She cried, scrambling for her bag, she really didn't want to keep Airdale waiting, he was a stickler for punctuality.

"Dammit Weasel-bee, are you trying to ruin my good looks?" Scorpious' drawled, amused, picking up his bag, "Why are you in such a rush anyway?"

"Meeting with Airdale," She explained. _This could be a good opportunity to find out if he's got a date to the ball, not that I care of course. _"Anyway, since I've run into you, do you have a date to the ball yet?"

Their conversation had certainly taken a turn Scorpious wasn't expecting. _Is she about to ask me to the ball? _"Um, no, I've been a bit busy to ask anyone."

Rose _was_ about to ask him to go with her, but she bottled it. "Oh yeah? I've had the same problem. Anyway, I should really get going." She ducked her head, blushing furiously with her heart pounding in her ears as she strode past him. Scorpious grabbed her wrist automatically, stopping her from going. Rose spun to face him. "What is it? I'm in kind of a hurry."

"I, well, um, neither of us have dates so why don't we go together?" He felt his ears going red, he hated how that would happen when he was embarrassed. He saw Rose look surprised, a red flush was spread across her nose and cheeks. "I mean, as friends of course! I'm not asking you out or anything!" Rose tried not to feel disappointed. It was much harder than she thought it should be.

"Of course as friends," her voice sounded slightly weak.

"You don't have to say yes, you've probably got better offers," Scorpious added quickly.

Rose pulled herself together, she really did want to go with Scorpious and they were friends. "I don't actually, and it would be awesome to go with you." She gave him a wry smile. "I _really _have to go now, can we figure out the logistics later?" He nodded. Rose turned and rushed off.

"No running in the corridors!" Scorpious called after her with his most authoritative head boy voice.

"Sod off, Malfoy!" She retorted, laughing.

"Oh, Merlin's beard Rose! You have to hurry!" Hugo was in a panic, dragging her by the arm towards the Gryffindor common room.

"What is it Hugo?"

"He's practically catatonic! Unicorn turds! I've never seen him like this before!"

"What? Who?" Rose tried to ask, but her little brother either didn't hear her or was ignoring her question. He dragged her through the portrait hole. She was about to scold him when she noticed a crowd gathered around one of the sofas by the large fireplace. Rose could pick out Scorpious and various members of her family within the group. Hugo dragged her through the crowd until she was standing in front of the sofa and she could see the source of the clamour. Albus was white as a sheet, with a tinge of green. He did not look well. She knelt down, to look up into his haunted looking face. Lily sat beside her brother and squeezed his hand comfortingly. "Al, what happened to you? Are you alright?" He didn't respond.

"He asked Frank Longbottom to the ball," Scorpious supplied.

Rose's eyebrows came together in confusion, "Surely that's a good thing..."

"Actually, he sort of screamed at him, it was a bit frightening," Lily interjected.

"He was _really _nervous," Scorpious said, reaching down to pat his friend on the shoulder.

"So?" Rose, looked up into Albus' eyes expectantly.

Finally Albus spoke, "I don't know," He shifted uncomfortably under the stares of his friends and family, "I legged it!"

"Didn't something like this happen with Uncle Ron and my mother?" Louis asked unhelpfully.

"Oh yeah! I remember mum saying something about that!" Hugo snickered, a hint of nostalgia glazing his eyes.

"It must run in the family!" Roxanne and Fred said in their twinly unison, before cracking up at their uncle and cousin's expense.

"You really should go and talk to Frank," Rose told Albus firmly, trying to suppress giggles of her own.

"I can't now! It's too embarrassing!" Albus wailed, throwing his arms in the air in desperation.

"I'll go with you again if you'd like," Scorpious offered.

"Fat lot of good you were the first time!" Albus cried, "Can't you just go for me?"

Scorpious rolled his eyes at his mess of a best friend. In fact, pretty much everyone watching the spectacle of the middle Potter's meltdown, rolled their eyes. "Are you a third-year?!"

"No," Al said sulkily.

"Then you can do it," Lily told her brother, squeezing his hand again, "I mean you already got the hardest part out of the way, you already asked Frank to go with you." Albus nodded, he was still very pale and sickly, but at least he now looked determined instead of like the aftermath of a dementor's kiss.

"I'll go and speak to him."

"Is this a bad time?" A curious voice called from the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. All heads turned to stare in shock and awe at Frank Longbottom, who had just entered. "You really know how to make a person feel welcome!" He joked awkwardly, "Should I come back later?"

"No!" Albus called out, abruptly standing from the sofa. He swayed slightly due to head-rush and Scorpious put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. "Frank, can we go somewhere and talk?"

Frank smiled, looking slightly relieved, "I was hoping you would say that." Albus made his way through the crowd and walked past Frank, exiting the common room. Frank gave an awkward little wave to the still staring masses, then followed. As soon as the portrait hole swung shut, everyone burst into excited conversation. "I really hope they get together!" Rose sighed.

"Me too." Her eyes met Scorpious'. His expression was warm with hope, causing her heart to beat a little faster. Slowly the large mass of people disbanded leaving Rose and Scorpious standing together in front of the fire. The air felt heavy with unsaid words, although neither of the two could really figure out what needed to be said between them. "Soo..." Scorpious started.

"So?" Rose asked.

"Dinner?"

"Dinner."

The day was finally here. The committee responsible for organising the ball, which included the head girl and boy, were rushing around like the Headless Hunt trying to get the finishing touches sorted. The school ghosts were helping put up decorations. "Look out below!" called Nearly-Headless Nick as he and the Grey Lady accidentally dropped a giant fake spider. Hugo who was standing beneath the ghosts, was frozen in fear as the spider fell (he'd received the phobia from his dad) but was fortunately saved by the Bloody Baron, who smoothly caught the spider and chivalrously returned it to the Grey Lady. The Great Hall was looking fantastic. There were fake gossamer cobwebs draped around and across the windows, as well as giant spiders and bats. The candles would be in floating pumpkins, carved with creepy and comical expressions. There was fake blood dripping down the walls and the ceiling was enchanted to show a full moon night. The floor was enchanted to have a permanent layer of mist roiling across it. Rose appraised the display. _Tonight is going to be absolutely fantastic! _She was itching to go and put on her costume, which she had absolutely _slaved _over. Not to show-off for Scorpious of course! That would be ridiculous! Either which way, she was very proud of herself. She couldn't wait to see what everyone else's costumes were.

"I can't wait! Why can't it be evening already?" An impatient voice said in her ear. She turned to Scorpious.

"All in good time!" She told him, as if she weren't also wishing she could force evening to come faster, "They do say that good things come to those who wait, you know."

"Can't wait, sorry, too excited!" Scorpious whisked Rose into a ballroom hold and started waltzing her across the hall.

"Scorpious!" Rose laughed, "Enough! We've got work to do!"

"Just a little longer," he whispered in her ear, making her blush before spinning her around a few times for good measure.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss. Weasley! Can you please get back to work and set a good example for the rest of the school!" The charms professor, Professor Magistra chided before returning to charming some puppets of magical beasts to hover and dance among the candles and rafters of the hall.

"Sorry Professor!" They giggled before, reluctantly (though neither of them would openly show it), sliding out of each others' arms and getting back to their assigned jobs.

Scorpious fidgeted at the bottom of the staircase, in front of the open doors of the Great Hall. He was too nervous to notice the admiring stares of his fellow students as they either waited for dates, friends, or were just passing by him into the hall. Scorpious was dressed as a highwayman. His hair was sexy-messy unlike its usual combed back, well-groomed style, it flopped over his black mask that had a silver spiralling pattern and emphasized his high cheekbones. He wore a silver waistcoat with spiralling embroidery, over a crisp white shirt that had a silver cravat at the neck. He wore black trousers with knee-high black boots, had a sword at his waist and a waist-length black cloak around his shoulders. He twisted at the cuff of his shirt. "Stop that!" Al scolded, slapping Scorpious' hand away. Scorpious was finding it hard to take his best friend seriously, he looked seriously adorable dressed up as a fluffy black cat. Frank would be happy.

"I'm nervous, alright! What if Rose thinks I look like an idiot?"

"She _always _thinks you look like an idiot!"

"Really?" Scorpious asked, he sounded really needy.

"No, actually she doesn't, please, just, _stop fidgeting!_ You look like sex-on-legs so relax!" Al was more than a little fed up with Scorpious, who had been fussing non-stop for the past 15 minutes.

"Sex-on-legs eh? Should I be jealous?" Frank sidled up beside Albus and leaned into him a little causing him to blush furiously making him look even more adorable. Especially with his enchanted cat ears twitching like that.

"I don't think you need to worry, I'm not his type," Scorpious grinned and winked at his best friend. Frank was dressed as a the Whomping Willow and had a mask of enchanted willow leaves that occasionally bristled menacingly.

"How long does it take for girls to get ready?" Hugo huffed walking over to the three with a slightly dejected looking Chris Creevy at his heels.

Albus, Frank and Scorpious took a second of pause to look at Chris, before attempting to say anything.

"Wha...?" "Um, that's an interesting choice." "Does Lily know what you're wearing?"

Chris shook his head. He was wearing a fluffy pink mask, was shirtless with alarmingly short, fluffy pink shorts, fluffy pink wristbands and fluffy pink knee-high boots. "I'm a Pygmy Puff. I lost a bet." And nothing further was said on the matter.

"Hugo! You look so handsome!" His girlfriend Vanya Wood cried as she rushed down the stairs and into his arms. She was dressed in a floaty white dress and looked utterly radiant, she had a white mask to match and she had her hair pulled up into a complex bun secured with silver ribbons. Her and Hugo were wearing co-ordinating outfits, he was dressed as a stylish were-wolf and she was the full moon.

"Whoa!" Chris breathed as his eyes locked onto Lily. She was dressed in a short, form fitting red silk dress with a red fascinator on her head with a black gauzy veil that came down to just above the tip of her nose. Her legs seemed to go on forever in her black fishnet tights. Lily narrowed her eyes, carefully scrutinizing her boyfriend, who gulped nervously.

"I wasn't sure what you were going to wear," she stated, her voice low and threatening. She leaned in and whispered seductively in Chris' ear, causing him to shiver, "I rather like it."

"Where's Rose?" Scorpious asked tentatively, slightly concerned that she hadn't come down with Lily and Vanya.

"Don't worry, she was right behind us," Vanya reassured him. Scorpious fidgeted a little while longer and tried to distract himself with conversation and peering into the hall, where students and teachers alike were mingling and feasting on the buffet. _Relax Scorpious! _He told himself._ Bloody hell, why won't my heart slow down?_ It was the appreciative and astonished gasps of his friends and random other students, that alerted him to Rose's arrival. He turned to stand and stare in awe as she descended the stairs. She looked like flame incarnate. She wore her hair loose and it flowed around her head in wild, curling waves. Her mask was made of feathers that dusted delicately along her cheekbones. Her dress was also made up of feathers, that were gradually of lighter colour, moving from dark red in the middle, to pale gold along the edges, it hugged her curves and brushed her knees. The dress had thin straps holding it up and lace bits that trailed lightly across her upper arms, floating as she moved. She was wearing medium heeled shoes that were a criss-cross of golden straps. He couldn't speak. He could barely think. All Scorpious could seem to do was stare at the goddess of a girl gliding towards him. _I want to kiss her. And do a variety of other things... _He felt his cheeks burn as the thought filled his head. When she reached the group, Rose grinned nervously. She reached out and shut Scorpious' mouth. He hadn't even realised it had dropped open. "I'm a phoenix, what do you think?"

Scorpious panicked as he tried to form a coherent sentence, but only came out with inconsistent stammering.

"That good, eh?" She laughed at him.

"Rose! You look soo beautiful!" Lily squealed.

"You helped her get ready," Albus said pointedly.

"I know! But still, _look _at her! She's gorgeous!"

"As are you," Chris told Lily as he slipped his arms around her waist. They smiled smugly at each other whilst everyone else rolled their eyes, except for Scorpious who could not. Stop. Staring.

"I'm starving!" Frank announced.

"Me too!" Vanya concurred, and with that, the cohort partnered up with their dates and glided into the hall to attack the buffet.

The music was thrumming through the hall. Instead of getting any one band in to play for the masquerade ball, the committee had organised a showcase of the most musically talented students, several of whom were already gaining a reasonable following in the wizarding world. The crowd flowed and pulsed like a larger body, moving in sync to the peaks and lows in the music. Rose was taking a break from dancing, she sat at the side with drink in hand. Through the gaps in the crowd she could see that her family and friends were all having a good night. She was especially pleased to see Albus snuggled in Frank's arms during the slow songs, this also seemed to be the opinion of Uncle Neville, who Rose had seen beaming at the couple through the mass of people and had even thrown a wink and thumbs up to his son who had blushed furiously before whisking Albus away from his dad's line of sight. "What are _they _dressed as?" Scorpious' incredulous tone cut through her scouting. She had found herself trying to occupy her mind with things other than him that evening. Whenever Rose focused on Scorpious for too long, she kept finding herself increasingly boggled. Scorpious' comment was focused at the Scamander twins, Lorcan and Lysander, who were dressed in sporadically hairy smocks with garishly coloured, polka dot leggings and had brightly coloured, spiked hair, which gave them the appearance of having been electrocuted. "Lily said something about them being Nargles," Rose leaned close to his ear to ensure he could hear her.

"What's a Nargle?"

"No idea!" They both laughed at that. The song ended and everyone clapped in appreciation. There was almost no pause before the music restarted. The intro was the simple, yet resonating plucking of a violin before the singer's full voice rang through the hall. The slightly irregular rhythm of the music had everyone dancing to its beat. Scorpious bent over slightly in a shallow bow, offering his hand. "May I have this dance?" Rose grinned and rolled her eyes at him, but happily took his hand and let herself be pulled into the crowd. Scorpious drew her into a ballroom hold.

_I've been loving you,_

_like a soldier in the peacetime waiting for the war,_

_With my heart on the horizon and one eye on the door._

Scorpious gazed lazily into Rose's eyes, as he pulled her in a little closer, turning with her in time to the music.

_I'd swallowed up my pride,_

_and the tears that made my throat raw, conceded my defeat,_

_When that sound came to my window so neat and so complete,_

_Gypsy voices, singing_

Rose slid her hand out of Scorpious's in order to comfortably loop both arms up around his shoulders. They both blushed at their closer proximity, yet neither pulled away.

_Bought by a man with gold and silver and shoes, and a promise,_

_thought I'd be a good man's wife and life would be complete,_

_But the nights turned cold and the moon changed her face and my temper,_

_And you looked right through me, like you never knew me_

That verse of the song struck a chord with Rose, it made her think of her relationship with Thaddeus Edgecombe and how disastrously it had ended... Sensing her thoughts, Scorpious pulled her closer into a semblance of a comforting embrace and they turned slowly on the spot.

_And I've been loving you,_

_like the frosted trees of winter, waiting for the spring,_

_But my heart was sweetly melted when first I heard him sing,_

_Oh my dark eyed gypsy_

_I kicked off my heels and dressed in leather,_

_And I straight ran down the stairs to my true love,_

_He said "Will you go with me my darling one, my dearie?_

_And I swear Lord Cassilis will ne'er come near thee"_

Rose absent-mindedly tilted her face up to lean her forehead against Scorpious's. Through his body, pressed close to hers, she could feel the rumble of his contented hum.

_What care I for feather beds?_

_I'll be sleeping in the fields for such a love as this_

_Let Lord Cassilis keep his money, I'll keep my gypsy's kiss,_

_And his soft voice, singing_

_I've been loving you,_

_Like a soldier in the peacetime,_

_waiting for the war..._

The song trailed off into silence. Time stood still for Rose and Scorpious, their foreheads still pressed together, arms looped around each other, eyes closed, sharing warmth and space. They didn't think and they didn't act. They didn't need to. Their breathing and heart beats synchronised in the absence of music. The rest of the world dropped away.

Well, until Lily, who seemed completely oblivious to the mood (or just didn't give a shit) bounced over, dragging Chris in her wake and gushing about how amazing the night was. Rose and Scorpious gently pulled away from one another, one of his arms lingering around her waist before they separated completely. Albus and Frank came over to join in the chatter as the next group hadn't started up yet. "I want a drink, does anyone else want one? Rose?" Scorpious offered.

"Cheers, that would be nice," she smiled and others murmured in agreement.

"I'll help you get them," Albus volunteered and they walked over to the giant, pumpkin-shaped bowl of drink, which was apparently charmed against spiking, much to the dismay of Roxanne and Fred who had managed to sneak in a rather surprisingly large amount of Firewhisky. When he was sure they were out of earshot of the others, Albus nudged Scorpious in the ribs conspiratorially. "So? I saw the two of you during that last song! You looked veeeerrry cosy." He added on a wink for good measure.

"Leave it Albus, I know what it looked like, what it _felt _like," Scorpious paused steeling himself, "But I also understand the limitations of our positions, especially with our families, also we haven't been friends that long, and although that hasn't been difficult, I don't want to mess everything up by moving too fast. It really doesn't help that she looks amazing in that dress." He tugged at the cravat for emphasis.

"The only limits I see are the ones you put on yourselves." Albus grabbed three of the six cups and went back to the group, leaving Scorpious feeling rather harshly treated and marginally flabbergasted.

The rest of the night continued in the same high spirits that it had been privy to since the beginning. There was a large amount of temporary partner changing as everyone wanted to dance with everyone and there just weren't enough songs to sate the students' thirst for dancing. Even with this, everyone still managed to end up in the right people's arms for the last song. It didn't feel long before the teachers were hustling the students back to their dorms and off to bed so that they, with the help of the planning committee and the school House-elves, could put the Great Hall in order for breakfast the next day. The teachers also generously turned a mostly blind eye to the after-parties they knew would occur in the common rooms of each house. They had managed to confiscate the majority of Roxanne and Fred's alcohol stash though, much to the Gryffindors' disappointment. It was so late, it was the next day by the time Rose and Scorpious made it back to the head student's quarters. They flopped on the sofas in front of the fire which Rose ignited with her wand. "Boggarting bludgers, I might have to sleep for the rest of the week," Scorpious groaned, he didn't sound too miserable though, just exhausted.

"I think we should make an appeal to the teachers to cancel lessons in favour of sleep," Rose agreed.

"They'd never go for it."

"Really? The way Professor Maddox and Professor Schengen were going, we'd definitely have some support!" A thought suddenly occurred to Rose, she dashed up the stairs to her room, calling, "Don't go to bed! I'll be back in a second!"

Scorpious sat up, intrigued, removing the cravat that was definitely too warm in front of the fire. Rose noticed that the minor stripping enticingly revealed his prominent collarbones, as she rushed back down the stairs holding something behind her back. "I wasn't really sure what to get you, I've never been that great at gifts," she pre-ambled, blushing, "Well, anyway, here," She thrust a neatly wrapped parcel at him, "Happy Birthday Scorpious." He took the parcel, slightly stunned. _I completely forgot, how the hell did that happen? _

"Thank you." He unravelled the silver ribbon and peeled away the purple tissue paper. There was a beautifully carved and varnished wooden box, which he opened to see inside a hardback copy of the book 'Around the World in Wizarding Folk Tales' which he had been pining after, a pair of soft silver-grey mittens/fingerless gloves that matched his scarf, and a new set of quills, he was almost out of them. "Thank you," he said again.

"The box is also enchanted so it can only be opened by you, or a trusted individual," she told him, she still sounded tentative and was rambling, "Are they alright presents, because if you had something in mind I can get that instead, I mean you don't have to feel obligated to just accept them."

"Rose, shut up." She looked taken aback. "These presents are perfect. They're exactly what I want, don't doubt how well you know me. I thanked you, twice, because I meant and mean it, so, thanks, and stop over-thinking everything, it isn't healthy." He smiled at her and she replied with a smile of her own.

"Happy Birthday," she whispered. The vision of her, still dressed up from the Halloween masquerade ball, if a little bedraggled, glowing in the firelight caused Scorpious's heart to still and find a calm. He shut and placed the box on the sofa before standing up and moving to stand over Rose. He puller her into a warm hug which she reciprocated. He drew back but not completely, so they were still in one another's arms. His silver eyes, dark in the low light of their common room, bore into Rose's midnight blues. _I want to kiss her. _Like magnets of opposing poles their lips met softly and lightly, in the glow of the fire. Scorpious drew back gauging Rose's reaction, but her brain had shorted out, so she couldn't come up with any reason why this might be a bad idea. She threaded her fingers into his messy hair, pulling his face and lips back down to meet hers, as they shared a deeper kiss. Somewhere in his head the word _finally _echoed as he pulled her even closer to him, so there were no longer any spaces between their bodies. Rose's brain started up again. Conflicted emotions, in her exhausted state rampaged through her heart and mind. She pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry, I just..." She didn't know what to tell him, "I need to go to bed, night." Rose fleeing, darted up the stairs and disappeared into her room. Scorpious felt in the moment that she shut the door that, by not making her wait for even one second longer before going, he had possibly lost something monumental. He slumped onto the sofa, with his head in his hands and sighed as the fire died in the grate.


	8. I can't do this

Helloooo my amazing readers!

Thank you so much for reading/reviewing/favouriting, it is truly awesome of you! I apologize in advance for the reasonably sporadic updates (not too sporadic I hope though!) as I've got a bunch of assignments to do for uni that are fun, but time consuming :P

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Happy reading!

Chapter 8 – I can't do this

"_Now Scorpious, I want you to listen to me, there are many different kinds of wizards in this world, take the time you have at school to find out the kind that you want to be." Draco Malfoy bent to hug his son. "Oh, and watch out for anyone with the surname Weasley, because they most certainly will not be a friend to you."_

"_Draco, don't cause him to have enemies before he's even on the train!" Astoria Malfoy scolded her husband playfully, "You make friends with whomever you like, just remember to study hard!" she also hugged Scorpious. The eleven year old boy looked up to his dad to see him staring across the platform as a slight clamour occurred a short way down the platform. Scorpious turned to look at what had caught his attention. In the distance he saw the Golden Trio staring at his family, his eyes widened in awe. A flash of red to their side caught his eye. He saw a girl of his age with wild red hair and bright blue eyes, her face was lit up with animation as she chatted to a boy who looked remarkably like Harry Potter except without the glasses and scar._

Scorpious opened his eyes. The sunlight streamed in from a gap in between the curtains hitting him obnoxiously in the face. He felt exhausted, despite only just having woken up. For a moment he forgot himself, then he remembered. Then he wished he didn't. _What have I done?_ It was his birthday but he was filled with despair rather than joy. On the plus side he had kissed Rose Weasley, the girl he could never ignore and was madly in love with. _Yes, madness, that's what it is. _On the minus side, she had practically run away from him looking like she was about to cry, and not out of happiness. _Unicorn turds, I don't want to get out of bed. _He looked at his alarm clock, it was 8.37am. He knew that there was a day off for most students due to it having been the ball the night before so they would still be serving breakfast until 10am, but unfortunately for the NEWT students they still had lessons. Scorpious' first lesson of the day was at 11am, so he still had a enough time to take it easy getting ready for the day. He was both looking forward to and dreading having to face Rose. What if she told him that they couldn't be friends anymore? He knew they wouldn't go back to being enemies. Even if it had only been for about a month and a half, the shift in dynamic between them had been much too large for that to happen. _No, what'll really happen will be much much worse. _If they stopped being friends, then they would stop being anything at all to each other. They would still interact on the grounds of head boy and girl, they would still see each other in class and out on the quidditch pitch, but that would be all. There would be nothing else. In that moment Scorpious felt eleven years old again and that bursting into tears would be a rational response.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Albus burst into his room grinning like an idiot, which was not a surprise considering how well the night before had gone with Frank. Albus didn't fail to notice Scorpious's expression whilst Scorpious desperately tried to rearrange his features. "What's wrong?"

"I suppose you haven't spoken to Rose this morning?" Scorpious gave up any the attempt at a cheerful façade.

"No, I haven't, I heard from Vanya that she went to breakfast quite early and then headed out with her broom."

"Oh," Scorpious said quietly, he had a pretty good idea where she had gone. "I did something really stupid Al, I've ruined everything." Albus appraised the miserable expression on his best friend's face and sat on the end of his bed.

"Whatever you've done, I'm sure it wasn't that bad and I know Rose, if you've pissed her off, just give her some space to cool off, then apologize," Albus instructed, "Oh, and when you apologize it's always a thought to have a bottle of her favourite firewhisky on hand just in case." He shifted nervously.

"Just in case of what?" Albus didn't reply, but shifted nervously. "Just in case of what?" Scorpious asked again, a little irritated.

"Isn't it about time you got dressed so we can head down to your special birthday breakfast?" Albus completely ignored Scorpious' question and left the room. Scorpious decided that on the subject of his feelings towards Rose, Albus was utterly useless.

It was a routine the two of them knew well. Halloween would have been crazy, so Scorpious would sleep in. Albus would either know the password or use his charisma to persuade a Slytherin student to let him into the common room. Whenever Albus used the latter method, Scorpious would always think that he would have done well in Slytherin. Scorpious's best friend would wake him up with an obnoxiously loud 'Happy Birthday!' and then drag him down to the Great Hall where the house-elves, at Albus' request, would have cooked a range of Scorpious's favourite foods for breakfast. This year was no different from the others, except Scorpious was in the head boy's room rather than the Slytherin dormitories. The food was always amazing. They wolfed it down like starved manticores. Albus handed Scorpious his birthday present. He unwrapped it to find a broom maintenance kit, the CD of that muggle band he had taken a liking to, and a silver-grey soft woollen hat. "Thanks Al, it's just what I wanted." Scorpious grinned at his best friend, feeling a lot better than he had when he woke up. He pulled on the hat. Albus nodded to acknowledge the thanks.

"You'll really have to thank Rose, she was the one who knitted it, I just bought the wool, she told me that she wanted to make a hat and gloves for you but she didn't have time to get wool for it considering how bogged down you were with the masquerade ball planning committee, so that's how it happened."

"I hope she forgives me," Scorpious said suddenly, bringing the mood down a bit.

"What exactly did you do?"

"I kissed her, and she kissed me back, she _did_, it wasn't just a one-sided thing," Scorpious felt a little like he had to convince himself, not just Albus, "But, then she ran away and she didn't look happy."

Albus nodded sagely. "There's nothing to be done, you'll just have to wait until she comes around, it shouldn't be too long, she's probably just a little embarrassed."

"My, my, your words make me feel soo reassured," Scorpious's voice was sarcastic acid.

"If you don't like my wisdom, don't ask for it, if you do ask, don't be a bitch about it."

Rose was on Scorpious's rock, but she wasn't screaming. She was thinking. She still wanted to be his friend, she wanted that more than anything, didn't she? _Or do I really want something even more than that? _The only problem was that whenever she considered the alternative path she could take, to completely throw her lot in with the Malfoy heir, the faces of her family who she'd disappoint floated up in her mind. Rose couldn't help but think about them. Her family meant everything to her, even though it was absolutely bloody massive, they were exceptionally tight knit. Rose wasn't even sure that Scorpious was what she wanted. Yes, kissing him had been amazing, the best kiss she'd ever had, but that wasn't the point. They had only been friends for what? A month and a half? In comparison to 6 long years of mistrust and hate, it felt very small. The problem was Rose knew she couldn't ever hate Scorpious again, he would never go back to being Pain-in-the-arse-broomhead-Malfoy. He had become a part of her, the thought of cutting him out felt like an act of self-harm. Even thinking about it felt unnatural. Rose flopped onto her back, hard enough to cause her breath to rush from her lungs. "What do I do?" she muttered at the clouds looming above, no answer, "Thanks a bloody lot." Sunshine broke through intermittently, causing light in bright patches to dance across the school grounds and the Black Lake. If she weren't feeling so conflicted, Rose may have even found it to be beautiful. _There just isn't enough time! _Too soon would she have to go to class and face him, it wasn't like she could ignore him. They lived, worked, and socialised in close proximity, always, especially since they became head boy and girl. Also it was his birthday, she couldn't spoil that. They had agreed from the first year that birthdays were sacred ground and had always upheld the promise to stay out of one another's way so as not to spoil it. Their warring had always had certain rules, they weren't utterly uncivilised. Maybe she could apply the same rule to today? Don't do anything to antagonize him, but also avoid soliciting his attention? _That could work, _Rose thought. She looked at the watch on her wrist (a present from her grandparents for her 17th birthday), it was a simple and sturdy, yet elegant affair with a silvery clock-face and silver hands shaped like dragons, the watch told her it was time to head back to school so she could pick up her bag from her room, hopefully avoiding Scorpious, and get to her first lesson.

_I can't do this. _Rose involuntarily halted in the doorway to the classroom. She could see Scorpious sitting at their work table in the potions classroom, they'd always been paired up so 'Other students in the class could have a chance to learn something rather than solely relying on the top pairs' abilities'. It was like someone had cast a body-binding jinx on her. "Do you care to join us Miss Weasley? Or would you rather loiter in the doorway for the entirety of the lesson which you are almost late for?" Professor Hawker called dryly across the room, the man was razor sharp, he never missed anything. It made him a both brilliant and infuriating teacher, unlike some, he wasn't afraid to pick on anyone either.

"Sorry professor." Rose blushed a violent shade of red and scurried to take her seat. To her relief, Scorpious only gave her a sympathetic smile, but didn't attempt to converse with her.

"Today I will have you brewing a series of potions used for the healing of common maladies," Hawker began his lesson, "I'm sure the majority of you, by the look of you, will be grateful to hear that the first of these potions is good for hangovers." There were several nods and mutters of ascent, he continued, "The second aids the banishment of colds and most strains of the influenza virus, the third is a quick and simple antidote for indigestion, any questions? No? Good, turn to page three-hundred and forty-six, get out your ingredients, and begin."

Scorpious and Rose acted systematically alongside each other. In place of the friendly chatter they had shared in the past month and a half, a cautious silence reigned. It wasn't uncomfortable though, which allowed them to act as normal. Well, mostly, Rose had accidentally brushed her hand against Scorpious' and they'd both flinched back causing them to send a beaker crashing down. _I can't do this. _Rose glanced over at Scorpious who was cutting up a viper's liver, she could tell he was as troubled as she was. _Neither can he, I wonder how long we can stay like this. _Rose was no fool, she could tell that they were on a tightrope. One wrong move and they would be crashing back to earth, but if they got it right, if they could just sort themselves out, then they had a sky full of possibility. They dropped their ingredients into the cauldron and left it to simmer for the appropriate amount of time. Slowly and gently Scorpious slid his hand across the bench towards hers. When their hands were almost touching, he extended his little finger, overlapping and hooking his around hers. Rose met his eyes steadily. Wordlessly they made an agreement. _Neither shall speak openly until we both understand our feelings and their consequences enough to speak on the matter. _The question was in his eyes as much as it was in hers, "We'll be okay, won't we?"


End file.
